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Topic: Believing thoughts will come true... (Read 386 times)

I have worked against OCD thoughts for the last several years. Well, actually basically the last 8-9 years of my life with sporadic OCD tendencies before that. I am almost 25 years old just to give you an idea of my history and situation. When I discovered OCD was an actual thing it perfectly explained many areas of my thought life and compulsions. However, my OCD was very limited and seasonal. When I was young, I would do things like check all of the drawers in my bedroom, opening and closing them several times before going to bed, and also getting out of bed to do these things. Of course, this manifested itself in other mundane areas as well such as putting my cup down at dinner several times in a row after picking it up.

In my teens, I developed a much worse kind of OCD revolving around religious scrupulosity of which I just recently learned that was an actual thing. These kind of thoughts seem to come and go as well at different times. My latest thoughts involve things like if you do X then Y will happen. And there really is no logic at all behind the thoughts. Its not like if you drive a car then you will get in a wreck. It's like if you do some random thing (A) then an even more random thing (B) will happen.

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with these kind of thoughts. Logically, I know it makes no sense. However, as you know, it doesn't matter. The worries and fears abound. Has anyone gotten over or learned to manage these kind of thoughts?

Hey bigmac, what you've described is the only type of OCD I know. I was diagnosed about 12 years ago but ever since I can remember, it's always been "if I don't do X, Y will happen". They have always been irrational thoughts and the thoughts never have any actual tie or relevance to the action. I've learned that my OCD grows and evolves with me. My thoughts and compulsions have changed over the years but I've been learning how to deal with it. I was on meds for 12 years and have just recently stopped. I know my OCD will always be there but it's up to me how I handle it. I let the thoughts come and I try to dismiss them by saying stuff to myself out loud, like " Doing this is not going to prevent the other thing from happening ". There are times where it's too overwhelming and my OCD takes over but you have to count your successes. Talking out loud and " exposing " your OCD for what it is really helps

Yes! I used to have OCD (which I got rid of 7 months ago) and I know exactly what you mean. I, too, believed my thoughts would come true. I was obsessed with my mom dying. I couldn't think about death or my mom would die. If I did think about death, I had to say a certain phrase and look at something green. And in terms of the "if I don't do this, this will happen" thought, I had to read a certain chapter of a certain book every night or she'd die. I'll tell you what thought helped me a lot in getting over my OCD- If you aren't afraid of your OCD compulsions, if you give them no meaning, nothing bad will happen. You put the meaning into those thoughts and rituals and compulsions. If you decide to not pay attention to these things at all and not be afraid of them, nothing will happen. It will all be ok. The power is all in your mind. I know how incredibly hard it is to get over OCD, but you can do it. If I, whose OCD controlled every second of my life, did it, then so can you. Good luck! :-)